One of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s longest-tenured company
men wants to part ways with the promotion.

Former heavyweight champion Frank Mir
revealed during an interview on
"The MMA Hour” on Tuesday that he has requested his release
from the UFC. All but two of Mir’s 29 career bouts have taken place
inside the Octagon.

"As of now I'm under suspension, as of April 2018 I'll be eligible
to fight again the UFC, and even more, as troubling as that is,
they have it to where I can't do any broadcasting," Mir said. "Not
that I was ever going to get it in there, just because I've been
asking for several years since the WEC since put this in the
rotation, right now I'd like to be released by the UFC so I can
continue my career in other avenues.”

The 37-year-old Mir last competed at UFC Fight Night in Brisbane,
Australia, where he suffered a first-round knockout loss to
Mark
Hunt on March 19. After the bout, Mir was informed of a
potential anti-doping violation, which he immediately denied.
Later, Mir revealed that his ‘B’ sample was retested and also came
back positive for oral turinabol metabolites, which are generally
classified as anabolic steroids. The heavyweight denied taking the
drug and even
speculated that the result occurred because of tainted kangaroo
meat eaten while in Australia.

As a result of that test, Mir received a a two-year suspensions
from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. The Las Vegas resident revealed
on “The MMA Hour” that he decided to bypass the appeal process due
to potential expenses.

It doesn’t sound as though Mir is interested in competing for
another promotion once his suspension ends. Instead, he hopes to
resume his broadcast career elsewhere. He served as an studio
analyst for UFC on Fox before the punishment was imposed and also
previously worked for the now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting
promotion.

"After I realized three weeks ago the situation in its entirety,
and looked at my savings account and what my kids cost to raise, I
realized I have to go make a living," Mir said.